Sons of the soil row and inequality

Sir, The ongoing protests by the Maharastra Navnirman Sena (MNS) against north Indians especially migrant workers from Bihar and UP, should be analysed in a broader perspective. If such workers have migrated to major cities or metros like Mumbai, it is mainly because of inequality in development. Cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, etc have seen phenomenal growth over the years, whereas in other state capitals and smaller towns the growth is marginal. In the process, job opportunities in such places are much less compared to the metros.

The political leaders are to be blamed squarely for such disproportionate growth. The earlier these politicians realise their follies, the more it would benefit the Indian economy. Otherwise such protests may gain momentum and spread like wild fire to other major cities also.

B N BHARATH
Bangalore

Maya’s fears

Sir, The news that the UP state administration has sought western style security for Chief Minister Mayawati is an insult to our own security system. They have cited the inability of the central government to provide Special Protection Group’s security as the main reason. The annual cost of security alone is estimated at around Rs 20-25 crore. When a CM is so worried about her own life, how can she govern the state without any fear ?

P N SRIVATSA
Bangalore

New dimension

Sir, Cricket has assumed a new dimension ever since the format of the game was altered to the Twenty20 format. The Board for Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has called the shots by pitting the India Premier League (IPL) against the India Cricket League (ICL). The business barons and the filmstars in our country have bought the players recently for a hefty price. Now most of the players are raking in the moolah.

K Balaji
Chennai

Good story

Sir, The main story, Still ablaze written by Ruskin Bond published in Sunday Herald (Feb 24) was a good one about the author’s first hand experience with a tiger and it made delightful reading. The wondrous narrative style of the author conjures up beautiful images of the tiger that came face to face with him. However extensive poaching and hunting of this majestic animal has dwindled its numbers and it faces a high threat of extinction. 

Ashwin Ramesh
Bangalore

Border dispute

Sir, Karnataka’s ongoing border row with Maharashtra must now hopefully come to an end. The Centre has now told  the Supreme Court that Maharashtra has been fighting a futile legal battle demanding the annexation of 814 border villages in Belgaum, Karwar, Bidar and Gulbarga districts of Karnataka which have a significant Marathi speaking population. This should also soon result in the changes of names of the cities including Belgaum into Belgavi that have been hanging for quite sometime now.

V Padmanabhan
Bangalore

Zionist actions

Sir, After the Tatas-Israel Aerospace tie-up, there are now reports that the public sector electronics giant, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has tied up with some Israeli defence companies. Recently India launched an Israeli spy satellite which will help them to monitor Iran, apart from other countries in the Gulf region.

These are only making the Zionist state more capable, stronger and enables them to take repressive action on the slightest pretext against Palestine and other neighbour States like Lebanon and Syria.

S Kamat
Goa